Get a Summer Job from President Obama, Bon Jovi

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Kathryn Knight Randolph

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Have you spent the last few weeks frantically searching for a summer job only to find job openings at your local public pool or shaved ice stand? The problem is a common one for students, especially in this economy, when students are battling experienced adults for temporary or part-time job opportunities.

President Obama’s Administration has grown increasingly concerned over this trend, and that’s why they’ve started the Summer Jobs+ program. The Summer Jobs+ program is an online resource for young people to connect with businesses and find summer jobs, internships, mentorship or training opportunities.

In a statement on the site, the President said, "America’s young people face record unemployment, and we need to do everything we can to make sure they’ve got the opportunity to earn the skills and a work ethic that come with a job…That’s why today, we’re launching Summer Jobs+, a joint initiative that challenges business leaders and communities to join my Administration in providing hundreds of thousands of summer jobs for America’s youth.”

Since the site’s launch, organizations like Gap, Inc., Southwire and Boys and Girls Club of Green Bay have signed up for the program to provide summer employment opportunities exclusively for students, according to The White House Blog. And now, even bigger names are teaming up to help young people find work this summer.

Aneesh Chopra, former CTO of the White House, musician Jon Bon Jovi, Steve Martocci, co-founder of GroupMe, and Kevin Haggard, Vice President of Quality Engineering at Gilt Groupe, have teamed up and created SummerQAmp, a component of the Summer Jobs+ program that will help train students on high-tech skills necessary to compete in today’s growing tech industry.

According to their website, SummerQAmp will “introduce Quality Assurance (QA) as a potential career path to American youth (ages 18-24) who are unaware of the opportunity by allowing them to gain valuable work experience as summer interns at software companies.” TechCrunch reports that SummerQAmp hopes to create at least 1,000 QA internships for students this summer.

Though Summer Jobs+ isn’t fully up and running just yet, students can sign up for updates as to when the site will begin posting summer job opportunities. Good luck with your summer job search!

Have you heard about President Obama’s Summer Jobs+ program? Will you use it to find your summer job?